PHOENIX, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) today called on one of that state’s senators to invite Muslim representatives to offer a balancing perspective to a screening of an anti-Islam film he is hosting in Congress.

On Thursday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) will host a closed-door screening of a 15-minute film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders. Wilders was recently denied entry to Britain because of his extreme anti-Muslim views, including urging that the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, should be banned. One of the event’s co-sponsors, the Center for Security Policy headed by Frank Gaffney, is linked to an anti-Islam group that has advocated prison terms in the U.S. for “adherence to Islam.”

THE HAGUE, 25/02/09 – MP Geert Wilders expects to show his anti-Islam film Fitna in the Senate of the United States on Thursday. In the runup to this event, he has given interviews to well-known TV programmes in recent days.

Wilders was interviewed twice by the conservative Fox News on Monday during his visit to the US. The Party for Freedom (PVV) leader was a guest on The O’Reilly Factor show of Bill O’Reilly and on the Glenn Beck show of the eponymous presenter.

In the interview with Beck, Wilders proposed the introduction of a ‘First Amendment’ in Europe. This part of the US Bill of Rights guarantees free speech. “I am here in America to learn from the freedom of speech that you have here,” said Wilders. All European laws against incitement to hatred should be abolished, he added, “because they are only being used against us.”

Washington DC — On Friday, February 27, 2009, Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, founder and floor leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), and the International Free Press Society (IFPS), in conjunction with the Center for Security Policy, will discuss recent attacks on free speech worldwide, especially the recent legal actions against Wilders and other political leaders and journalists.

The International Free Press Society will announce a global initiative to protect free speech from laws that criminalize any criticisms of Islam or the doctrines of Shariah.

The event will include a screening of Fitna, the controversial film which includes quotations from the Koran, documentary footage of Islamic leaders inciting violence (jihad) based on those quotations, and documentary footage of jihadist violence. The film can be viewed on the Internet here.

Mr. Wilders will discuss his efforts to show Fitna and to rally support for free speech and the right to criticize Islam.

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I am torn between saying the entire Wilders issue is much ado about nothing and getting serious. I believe it is the inalienable right of any human to be a schmuck. Of course, yesterday’s jerk may well be today’s hero. I doubt if Wilders is anything other than the idiot he most probably is, but God Bless him, rant on and on. The freaken economy is in the toilet and people are upset because a class A fool wants to spout nonsense. As far as I know, his comments do not meet the US Supreme Court definition of shouting “fire” in a crowded theater.

If you think Wilders is an idiot, suggest you listen to one or more of his recent clips. He’s very lucid. Nor is he a jerk. He’s just saying unpleasant things people don’t want to hear.

And it isn’t much ado about nothing – the guy has been living in jail under 24 hour police protection for years. So the Dutch authorities (1) don’t think it’s much ado about nothing nor (2) have they fixed the problem.